7 October 2026. Research in Progress
Online, Wednesday 7 October 2026, 12:00 – 1:00 pm AEDT. Register here.
This monthly seminar series showcases ongoing research from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity. Hear about our research in progress, including preliminary results, methods, data analysis, emerging ideas and unresolved challenges. This seminar in October includes two talks:
- “Modelling invasive insect spread with citizen science data: A dynamic occupancy-detection model.” PhD candidate Yufan Zheng, University of Canberra
- “Optimising trials for water sampling.” PhD candidate Addam Corallo, University of Canberra
Register to receive the link to this free online event.
22 October 2026. Good feedback: Asking for it, getting it, and responding to it
Online, Thursday 22 October 2026, 2:00 – 4:00pm AEDT.
Many graduate students cite getting and dealing with feedback from their supervisors as one of the most frustrating areas of candidature. You can wait for ages and when it comes it’s not what you wanted. Feedback is essential to help you make progress and improve the quality of you outputs. But if you just say “give me feedback” you are leaving it completely up to chance. So what can you do to ensure you get the feedback you need?
This workshop will look at asking more specific questions and being clear about the type of feedback you want. This workshop is open to all PhD students – you don’t have to be part of the Training Centre to join. Feel free to share it.
Register to receive the link to this free online event.
26 – 30 November 2026. Population genomics for biodiversity, biosecurity and rapid adaptation
In person, The Australian National University, Canberra.
A hands-on workshop focused on the application of whole-genome population genomics to monitoring and managing invasive and endangered populations. This workshop is delivered by Dr Henry North, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Centre for Biodiversity Analysis.
The Training Centre is pleased to offer a Targeted Introductory Workshop for HDR students and early career researchers (half-day, Thursday, 26 November) before the main workshop (Friday, 27 November). There is also a ‘bring your data‘ day (Monday, 30 November)
All are welcome to this free event. Registrations are essential. Read all the details and register on the CBA website.
Past Events
2 September 2026. Research in Progress
Online, Wednesday 2 September 2026, 12:00 – 1:00 pm AEST. Register here.
This monthly seminar series showcases ongoing research from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity. Hear about our research in progress, including preliminary results, methods, data analysis, emerging ideas and unresolved challenges. This seminar in September included two talks:
- “Building the foundations for Next generation sequencing-based virus detection in tissue-cultured plants.” PhD candidate Stephanie Morgan, James Cook University
- “The secret world inside a snail: Exploration of terrestrial snail parasites, worldwide and in Australia.” PhD candidate Bethany Perry, University of Canberra
11 August 2026. ALA Galah Online Workshop
In this session, workshop participants were introduced to the galah package, an R package that allows people to filter and download species occurrence records, taxonomic information and associated media in R. The session demonstrated how to use galah to query biodiversity data for download, investigate associated metadata to assess record quality and usage, and how to explore these data using maps and plots. Using code to work with ALA data is particularly useful for those interested in improving the reproducibility of their workflows.
5 August 2026. Research in Progress
This monthly seminar series showcases ongoing research from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity. Hear about our research in progress, including preliminary results, methods, data analysis, emerging ideas and unresolved challenges. This seminar in August included two talks:
- “Field to Fasta: piecing together the first genome of a sugarcane pathogen.” PhD candidate Lavi Singh, ANU
- “Refining DNA extraction protocols for scale insect nymphs.” PhD candidate Yilin Bai, ANU
17 July 2026. Workshop – Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Research Students
Our online workshop by Thinkwell tackled the questions: What do PhD students do to finish on time, to overcome isolation, doubt and writer’s block, and to enjoy the process? And just as importantly what do they do in order to spend guilt-free time with their family and friends and perhaps even have holidays? Read our workshop wrap-up notes.
11 May 2026 Centre Forum (Melbourne)
Our invite-only Centre Forum was in Melbourne. We showcased our projects and engaging with partners. The Centre Forum was followed by a special networking event for students, and a broader networking event for partners. Read our wrap up here.
12 – 13 May 2026 PBRI Symposium (Melbourne)
We are proud to sponsor the PBRI Symposium, which will be held at the Melbourne State Library. Registration is essential and will open soon. See more about the event in this News article from PBRI.
9 – 13 February 2026 Training Retreat (Canberra and NSW)
This Training Retreat was for PhD students and postdocs in the Training Centre to build professional skills and networks. It was in-person in Canberra and regional NSW. Blog post coming soon.
1 December 2025 Seminar: Darwin and the exploding trousers: assessing an existential risk after two centuries of biological invasions in New Zealand
This talk revisited and contextualise the invasion predicted by Cellarius within a framework of biosecurity risk assessment. Seminar will be from 12:00 to 1:00 Canberra time, in person and online.
12 May 2025 ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity Launch
27 March 2025 Fundamentals of PhD Supervision
20 August 2024 PhD Opportunities in Plant Biosecurity, Health and Entomology